Disaster (including wildfire) STHF communications plan

[Robert Stewart]

Rightio fellow prepper peeps with the recent thread about wildfire pre-preparedness taking off and being fairly active as result of the California wildfires figured I might start up a STHF communications plan one that is not only related to wildfire but also all other types of disasters

As we all know mobile phones and internet have become a mainstay in this day and age but far too often heavily relied upon for emergency alerts or updates when nearly 100% of the time infrastructure suffers damage from fire, storm or flood of which has been witnessed recently in LA and also during the Grampians fires where mobile bases/towers have been either destroyed or severely damaged to the point where it could be weeks or even months before they can be properly put back online pending if repair crews can get into the locations which are usually remote or hard to reach

Bushfires are a major hazard here in country South Australia even though its been 42 years this year without a bushfire event which has caused damage on a scale likened to 1983 where 4 townships were directly threatened and communications back then being a complete mess with only 4 channels available for use by fire crews down here in the South East I've had to slowly piece together my own STHF communications plan over 3.5 years roughly same time it took to put together a solid bushfire pre-preparedness with final piece completed early 2024 by getting my foundation amateur radio license

With the addition of an updated vehicle with more space in December last year and subsequent complete installation of all 3 radios last week on the 08/01/2025 and purchase of a hf radio set around in late 2024 the plan has been completed but yet to be tested in any actual emergency

STHF COMMUNICATIONS PLAN

Initial communications-Home (until power/internet fails)

* GME XRS 370C UHF

* Xiegu G90 HF

* Uniden UBCD536PT scanner

* Tecsun S2000

*GME XRS 660 handheld

*Hamgeek apx-8000 handheld

*Laptop with wireless internet


Field/command operations (Evacuation to an allocated refuge if not occupied with spot fire patrol)

* Icom 2730A (communicating and relaying messages)

* Uniden X86 UHF
* GME XRS 660 handheld

*GME TX6160 handheld

* Uniden UH755 handheld

* Hamgeek apx-8000 handheld

* Uniden UBCD436PT scanner

*iPad with mobile internet

Chucked in amongst my comms gear will also be

*Folding chair

*2x first aid kits

* Portable camping table

* Note pad and pen as well as pencil

* Quick setup awning attached to my Tucson

 

[bkt]

We have similar configurations. My home setup (the part that could be turned portable quickly) includes the G90 with a 160M-10M antenna and a BTech 50+ watt VHF/UHF rig that can transmit and receive on ham, gmrs, frs and murs frequencies. A Midland 75-822 is my CB. It works reasonably well but I need to figure out a proper antenna with a ground plane for it.

For portable work, I'm working now on a 40M nvis rig. It consists of a (tr)uSDX, 40M ladder-line antenna (only about 40 feet long), an Evolve III laptop and a Bioenno 12aH battery. The laptop can recharge off any 12V power source, which is convenient. The idea is to be able to communicate in a 0-200 mile diameter using js8call or phone and not be concerned with signals being obstructed. There's a USB GPS dongle for synchronizing the time.

For handhelds, I have several. I'd probably pack my Wouxun KG-UV9PX because it works as a scanner and has two superhet tranceivers for true dual receive, and probably my Anytone D868UV which has almost all the repeaters in my state programmed and grouped by county.

Great point that a means to take notes is critical! Also, a camp stool and small table would be necessary.

 

[montanabill]

Sounds like you have put a lot into your set up..
Do you have other ranches that are part of your grid....use compatible equipment and frequency's?

My friend used to work forest fires here in Montana USA and he was the on site radio guy who ran the commo for crews and interacted with aircraft doing water drops.

 

[Robert Stewart]

Sounds like you have put a lot into your set up..
Do you have other ranches that are part of your grid....use compatible equipment and frequency's?

My friend used to work forest fires here in Montana USA and he was the on site radio guy who ran the commo for crews and interacted with aircraft doing water drops.

Nope no ranches here in country South Australia just a country town that is very prone to being cut off by fire with pine forests lining all 3 escape routes

We have several unofficial evacuation shelters that aren't recognised but can have been used during the 1983 fires

My plan is to establish a staging area at one of the evacuation shelters and provide communications on the local amateur repeater as well as UHF CB channels used locally by farmers,truck drivers and so on

If anything was learnt 40+years ago during Ash Wednesday is that amateur and cb radio were life saving lifeline's enabling salvos and police to ensure smooth evacuations as well as adequate support services were available at the allocated shelter back then of which was Kalangadoo pub

 

[montanabill]

We were burned out of our property in 2000 and the unofficial evac center was a local tavern (pub), We sat around calling our houses to see if the answering machines picked up. 74,000 acres burned and only affected 11 property owners and federal forest land.
Do you ever use the Beo fung china radios.

 

[UserNameTaken]

I have several Baofengs for emergency. But other than a SW receiver no long range abilities. Our house is on a hill so we can reach it with gmrs from most of the town / immediate valley, except on the other side of the hill. It would be minimally adequate for local comms.

 

[Haertig]

I have gone back and forth with my thinking regarding emergency communications. In the end - if my current thinking represents "the end" - I have not done much regarding communication. Everybody has cell phones and internet so those don't really count as preps IMHO. But other things, like radios, do.

I have come to the conclusion (subject to change) that all's I really need in the line of two-way is with my immediate family. For coordinating things like immediate evacuation and meet-up later. Since my kids have left home and it's just me and the wife now - and we usually travel places together - this doesn't amount to much of a need. And when we aren't traveling together, we would generally out of handheld/mobile radio transmission/reception range. Unless repeaters are working, and if they are, cell phones are probably working as well.

I do have a ham license, but I'm not big into that and I'm only licensed at the Technician level. So for all practical purposes, only near-area local communications. Which I would say are maybe better handled with GMRS radios. Once cheap license, no testing required, good for the entire family to use. Moving up to a ham General or Expert license would open up more bands and long range communications. But I'm not sure that when I'm dealing with a disaster in Colorado I have a great need for communications with some unknown guy over in Fiji.

There is a very slim possibility that I might be able to communicate with my son using handhelds on line-of-sight frequencies. He is 11 miles away as the crow flies and he's on a middle sized hill and I am on a high hill. Boy, that would be pushing it with handhelds. Maybe if we both got on top of our roofs and I used my directional Yagi antenna (used for "fox hunting" - a radio game). Of course, he would have to get him a ham radio and license to do that properly. Currently he has a couple of Baofengs and they can technically transmit and receive on ham frequencies that my FT-60R is restricted to, although not legally. I could give him one of my good outdoor 2m antennas to facilitate things. However, we are still talking a horribly sketchy distance for 5 watt radios - especially when one of them is a Baofeng - claimed 8 watts on that one, but that's "8 Chinese watts" which are only about 1/3 as good as everybody else's watts.

I do have a four FRS radios (not GMRS) that my wife and I could theoretically use. They're old, but were high-ish end (made by Kenwood) when I bought them. They actually work very well for short distances. I'm talking 2 miles or less in suburbia, when both people are outside. Realistically, I would only trust them for 1 mile.

Moving to one-way communications - listening to what's out there - that would be useful in an emergency. So a good multi-band receiver is a thing I desire (and no, I don't have one yet). I do have a Yaesu FT-60R ham handheld, and that does receive over a very wide range. I have outdoor antennas I can attach it to, but those are really only good for the 2m and 70cm bands. So I'm not totally blind but I could be much better than I am currently. Additionally, the Yaesu - while it's a great radio - is not something that my wife would be able to pick up and have any idea how to use. So I need to research and buy a decent multi-band receiver that is targeted for the less technically minded crowd. And a good wide-band antenna to match to it.